Ritter convicted in sex sting

Scott Ritter, a former U.N. weapons inspector from Delmar who was nabbed in a online sex sting, faces a maximum of 7 years in prison on each of the five felony charges he was convicted of Thursday, but is likely to get much less under sentencing guidelines.

Jurors in Monroe County convicted Scott Ritter, 49, on six of seven counts. He was acquitted on a criminal attempt charge. Ritter had no reaction as the verdict was announced Thursday. His twin 18-year-old daughters sobbed.

Ritter exchanged explicit messages with a detective posing as an underage girl and masturbated even after the undercover officer said during the chat that he was a minor, prosecutors said.

“The jury reached the right decision,” Monroe County Assistant District Attorney Michael Rakaczewski said after the verdict. “They saw the case for what it is and the defendant for what he is and what he did.”

“Even though a person may know what they’re doing is wrong, they may be intelligent enough to try to avoid and get away (with it),” Rakaczewski said. “Sometimes, the internal drive to engage in these types of deviant sexual behaviors is just too strong.”